The Evansville Convention & Visitors Bureau is getting closer to selecting a new executive director.

In June, the bureau launched a nationwide search for a replacement for Marilee Fowler, who left that position in March.

At the bureau's monthly board meeting Monday, search committee member Kristen Tucker said the search is progressing and she feels "real certain" that a new director will be hired this fall.

Other search committee members include David Dunn and Stacey McNeill. McNeill, the search committee's chairwoman, was not present at Monday's board meeting.

Within the past several weeks, Tucker said, five candidates have come to Evansville for initial interviews and tours of the area.

Those five candidates were chosen from a pool of close to 20 "qualified applicants," Tucker said.

From those five, Tucker said a smaller group of finalists will be invited back in October for more interviews.

By the time the Convention and Visitors Bureau board has its next meeting Oct. 25, Tucker said, "we're going to be getting close to making an offer" to one of those finalists.

The Convention and Visitors Bureau has hired SearchWide, a Minnesota-based executive search firm, to help with the process. SearchWide specializes in the travel, tourism and hospitality industries.

In other business, Evansville arena project manager John Kish updated the board on the progress of the arena and the hotel planned as part of the project.

By Friday, Kish said, organizers expect to receive a handful of responses to their request for qualifications to build a hotel to replace the Executive Inn.

"We think we'll get some good proposals," Kish said.

Indianapolis-based Browning Investments was originally slated for the hotel project, but this summer the developer told city officials it was unable to secure financing for the project.

Kish said the arena is on schedule to open in November 2011, though the hotel might not be open by that time.

Board member David Dunn also gave the board an update on the status of the softball/baseball complex planned for Wesselman Park and the Roberts Stadium campus. Dunn is the chairman of Destination Evansville, the visitors bureau committee spearheading the project.

If all goes according to schedule, Dunn said, groundbreaking on the project would happen in September 2011, with an estimated completion date 12 months after that.